andrew bansal

March 27th 2016, The Regent, Los Angeles CA: Bringing together rock ‘n roll and wrestling in a unique live performance based entertainment form, the Rock ‘N Roll Wrestling Bash “Exotrash” was created in 2003, and after several years of success in Europe, has finally made its way to the United States, following multiple attempts to do so. The inaugural U.S. edition of the event took place at the Regent in downtown Los Angeles last Sunday March 27th 2016. This was an unknown entity to locals, but many turned up to discover what it was all about, expecting an evening of non-stop entertainment.

Doors opened at 7 PM, and the scene inside the Regent was obviously very different from what a regular concertgoer would otherwise expect. There was a wrestling ring set up in the center of the general admission floor, adjoining the stage in such a way that performers would easily be able to step in and out between the ring and the stage. Upon entering the venue, attendees were made to sign an injury release form, basically signing their lives away in case any wrestlers were to fly out of the ring and into the crowd. At 8 PM, the musical opening act Rusty Eye began proceedings with an excellent set. This progressive metal trio has been around in the LA scene for a number of years, they have been participating as the musical act in Mexican underground wrestling events, and were the ideal choice as the openers for this show as well. They don’t play nearly as many shows as they once used to, which makes each of their shows even more worth attending. Ticket holders that arrived early enough to catch this band were not disappointed, as was evident from the general applause following the set. – See more at: http://metalassault.com/gig_reviews/2016/04/01/inaugural-us-edition-of-rock-n-roll-wrestling-bash-takes-place-at-the-regent/#sthash.PzCAgzP3.dpuf

May 26th 2014, Down & Out Bar, Los Angeles CA: Based out of Atlantic City NJ, metal quartet Hammer Fight are currently on a US tour and made their way to Los Angeles to headline Metal Monday at the Down & Out Bar in DTLA last night, along with local support acts Panties and Rusty Eye. Put together by prolific local metal promoters Church Of The 8th Day and Thee Static Age, the show promised an entertaining Monday night out for supporters of the metal underground in the area.

Hollywood’s very own horror-themed progressive metal trio Rusty Eye originated in Mexico City in 1995 and transitioned to becoming an LA band a decade later while still keeping their roots intact. Of late, they went through some lineup instabilities but are now getting back into the groove by playing the occasional local gigs, with original drummer/vocalist Miss Randall returning on the kit. Here they played an 8-song set consisting of three covers off of the latest Rusty Eye album ‘Saca El Cobre’, their all-covers tribute to a selection of Mexican music groups/artists, along with a few of their original tunes including a Spanish version of ‘Mr. Cannibal’. The covers are clearly targeted towards their Spanish-speaking fan base and for people unfamiliar with the original artists or the language, it’s a little hard to follow these tunes and takes a bit of getting used to. So for me, the original Rusty Eye tunes still stood out as the more enjoyable parts of the set, specially ‘Mr. Cannibal’ wherein Mr. Rust’s bass line is strongly reminiscent of Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris, and ‘Mondo Cane’ in which guitarist Baron Murtland gets to express himself fully as the band lays into some proggy jamming. Performance-wise, all three members were solid but it was clear to me that they can reach higher levels if they play on a more regular basis. Rusty Eye is undoubtedly an intriguing band in its own unique, weird ways, and it’s be good to see them back playing shows again.